


The New Normal

by MissMina1385



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: COVID-19, Coronavirus, Gen, Pandemic - Freeform, sads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:20:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23479864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMina1385/pseuds/MissMina1385
Summary: For some people writing about (or reading about) the current events is cathartic, so this work is a second person (she this and that, no actual names) look at what a bot can do in a clinic for Covid-19 quarantine and how they can help. This is set in my fictional world, and the bot being referenced is my OC, but I believe it's general enough that all audiences can appreciate it if they choose to read. You've been warned, so if reading about this is going to upset, then please click off and find some nice puppy photos. I won't be mad at you for not reading, I want you to take care of yourself. But if you're one of the people who finds stories about our current events cathartic, I hope this one helps!





	The New Normal

She’d seen this all before. But somehow this time it was different. Pandemics, epidemics, war, she’d seen it take many lives. But this time it just seemed surreal. In this digital age, where anything and everything was possible, why were people still dying like it was the Spanish Flu? She’d held the hands of army men as their limbs were cut off, she’d held a cloth to their mouths as they coughed up their lungs. But somehow this was different. Being a bot she couldn't get sick, so she was perfect for volunteering in the quarantine wards. Didn’t help the flashbacks though, or the dread of another generation or two being wiped out by disease leaving dependents at the mercy of humanity. She’d learned a long time ago humanity was useless when it came to times of crises. Having lived over 130 years you learn to recognize the patterns. And boy we are in a pattern now, she thought to herself as she dabbed at the fevered head of a patient. This virus seemed overly vicious, taking out all the poor and the aged. If you weren’t in peak physical health, you were in much more danger of dying from this. 

She’d volunteered at an at risk clinic, flooded with poor and elderly folk possibly infected. She was invaluable here, as she could not catch the virus no matter what. So she could care for the infected without needing the masks and gowns, saving them for the humans who did need them. Her silicon needed special disinfecting, but her metal was so easy to disinfect she was perfect for getting right in there with the sick. A bot can’t get infected, so they were trying so hard to staff the clinics with them to limit the spread. Hospitals were getting to the point that it was almost all bots, leaving the humans as experts only, limiting greatly their exposure and risk for catching the virus. 

She’d been there in the wars, holding the men’s hand as their arms and legs were amputated, but somehow this was different. It was global. Everyone had an equal chance of catching it, and instead of the healthy falling, it was the immuno-comprimised and the elderly in the most risk. Maybe that’s what was so impactful. It was grandparents going down, who had families. But it was also entire families getting sick. It may have started with Grandpa, but then it trickled down to sons and daughters, and grandkids and cousins. Entire families were being wiped out. 

She’d seen men of all ages dying in the war, but this was somehow different. A war but not a war. There were no men with guns, but it was a war just the same. The same indiscriminate killing, the same lineages wiped out. The kids were the hardest. Because they were rare, it made it all the sadder when they’d come in. She spent a lot of time in the kids ward, reading to them, comforting them, and trying to get them back out into the world. Children will always be our future, and must be taken care of. She’d read to them, tell them stores, even sing them lullabies when it was bedtime. Their little fingers curled around her own, something solid to hold on to in this time of uncertainty and fear. 

One day a sweet little boy came into the ward with a nasty cough and a very high fever. He was sweating all over, but also shivering due to the high fever. Not having to worry about catching it herself, she was able to hold him close, let him snuggle into her embrace and sing him a soft lullaby as she rocked him to sleep. He was by far the scariest child she’d had, with death a looming factor the whole time he was there. Once the fever broke his chances improved greatly, allowing him to be transferred into the regular quarantine ward instead of the ICU ward. 

She’d get grateful letters from moms of infected kids, heartbreaking stories of how sick they were before coming to the quarantine clinic and then how strong and healthy they were after. School and sports once again in their future thanks to the diligence of herself and the other bots able to take the front line care.

The little pictures and small handmade gifts were the best part. They had a whole cork board overflowing with the simple and heartfelt gifts the kids had made for their nurses. From cards to macaroni art to little fabric crafts, the gifts the kids were able to make were the best gift of all, because it meant they were well enough to make them. There were also letters, in beautiful handwriting, from the elderly, thanking the bots for their care. If it hadn’t been for them, the human doctors and nurses would have been overwhelmed a long time ago. 

So they went on day after day, caring for the ill, taking the places of those that couldn’t work, waiting for the day when they were no longer needed. When everyone was healthy again, and parks were open, kids could go back to school, sports ball started up again, and life would back to our new normal.


End file.
